What is causing 3 different APC/Kennsington mobile power packs to no longer work without power?

[Acie]

I have had 3 different mobile power packs now and shortly after getting them, they no longer work without the power cord attached which totally defeats the purpose of a MOBILE power pack. Could I be short circuiting the external contacts somehow with faulty or breaking passthroughs? Has anyone else had a problem similar to this? When I purchase my 4th one what should I avoid doing so this does not happen again? Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

 

[petem]

Does your passthru have an inline battery or is it one without a battery?

 

[Acie]

Does your passthru have an inline battery or is it one without a battery?

My passthrough does not have an inline battery. They are the 5V passthroughs from Mad Vapes.

 

[petem]

Without an inline battery I think that they want 1.5 amps to 2.0 amps from the power source. It maybe that the power supply you have can not meet the passthru demand and is getting killed. Do you have any specs about how many amps your mobile power pack can provide (most cell phones ,ipods, etc type devices require less than 500 ma ). A passthru with a battery will work as they require less amps form the power source but then I believe most are 3.7 volts then and not at 5 volts.

 

[Acie]

Without an inline battery I think that they want 1.5 amps to 2.0 amps from the power source. It maybe that the power supply you have can not meet the passthru demand and is getting killed. Do you have any specs about how many amps your mobile power pack can provide (most cell phones ,ipods, etc type devices require less than 500 ma ). A passthru with a battery will work as they require less amps form the power source but then I believe most are 3.7 volts then and not at 5 volts.

APC mobile power pack - Input 5V 1A Output 5V 1.6 A
Kennsington portable Battery Pack - Input - 1 A max Output- 1.5 A max

I do not like the passthroughs with the inline battery. Should I try to find a power pack with a minimum of 2 Amp output; if one even exists. However, both of these packs did work just fine for 4 to 6 weeks without AC power @ 5V. If the passthrough was starting the break but was still working, which they were, I was wondering if it somehow short circuited the packs external contacts which the APC pack says DO NOT do.

Thanks

 

[petem]

You may make a post here Battery Issues. There are some electroic / battery experts who can give better advice. I think I remember that if you discharge a lion battery too low it ends up killing it which is why some devices like the ego have a protection curcuit that will not allow you to discharge it below a certain point. Have you been using the same passthru will all three power supplies? If the passthru was faulty and killed the first power supply then I think it would kill the others on first use. Just remembered that some had passthru wire problems where the wire just enters the tube, you chan check that area for any "funny" feel to the wire. Other than that thats all I can think of for now. Good luck!